Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-05-14
SEEN IN A DREAM.
The Story of Two Lovers Who Were United
in Death-The 0rganist and His Bride
That Never Was.
The Tune from the shepherds Pipe AZ u
Fioated Out over the Lake That Neon
Iixh, Night Was II JOY
Grief That Killed Him


trll-dreamed il with vividness Of detaj
of which am powerIeSS to give my reader
a faint idea. Ii was three years ago. AM
to this day the wonderful tale has lingere'
among the Shadowy rece>Se> Of my mind
like some sweet sal memory in which friend
draT 10 me played the roles of principals
Al times aS | have turned the incident
over and over in my brain and p"ndere,
upon their strange relations and their bite
Conference of result. | have almost douhte,
that it was dream. and been half con
WINGED that some time. perhaps in tina
other previous existence which evolution
lists hint at. had taken part in this dram;
of two darkened lives. But | think it wa.
dream. and that in a few seconds Of rest
|. less sleep there has passed before my vision
two life times of love and sorrow anC
tragedy. Let me try to tell the story as the
fancies of sleep told il to me:
| Marie was mountain girl-a sweet, gen.
tie child of the lofty peaks of AlSace-Lo.
raine. Not more certain Were the feet OF
her companions, the mountain goats, than
were hers. and she lived life Of which We
in the crowded cities OF the new world can
have no conception. Her play-felows were
the symphonies of the winds. a they blew
in resonant diapaSons about the cliffs. and
at eve she looked on sunsets the glnres of
which told of the magic of an omnlpoteni
Artist, whose palette was the mighty I'M
mensities OF mountainous space, and whose
colorS were the blue and gray and gold and
amber of the dying day. The child grew
up in the unspeakahle purity of the noun
tain air and her soul was as Sp0tleSS a. the
| blue over her home. Her body was not
| less beautiful, for she was 1.-the and clean
limbed As a aZelle. A wealth of bright
| hair like sunlight spun, crowned her head.
| Her eyes were fragments twin and twain of
| the azure curtain that shut out the heavens
| from the earth. As saw her and knew
| her in that lifetime of dream. she was the
fairest creature | ever saw or hope to see.
The simple village in which her father
was a dignitary. nestled on the side of the
mountain. and overlooked gentle valley
| below. 1t was a characteristic old world
village. II never progressed its legenfS
dealt with centuries a. lightly and tamil-
iarly as We talk of days. Itwas the scene
of sweet. pure. slumberouS life. | can see
this village, but | cannot describe IL MI
nutely-itS white. matched cottages; itsone
long. rambling street in hesitating curves:
a grass-grown street. i'll which the bells of
the straying sheep often made undisturbed
melody its Odorous gardens, breathing with
simple fiowers;its gently pretentious church
in the center of the place. with its upward
pointing spire. Surmounted by cleaning
cross of beaten gold. This church. moss
grown and vy-clad. was the scene of the
JOY and tragedy of this story. | can close
my eyes as | write and see Marie. fitting
among the grave stones in the church yard,
tenderly lifting broken flower here, not
more fair than she. pausing there
10 brush away the web of the
mOuntain-riy from marble slab, no prIrer
in color than her life and thoughts. | can
see her with her little frilled cap. beneath
which the amber locks were peeping, her
modest gray gown. pulled al the shoulders.
and reaching only Ia the ankles: her little
slippers with the immense rOsetteS worn in
that country; her soft. blue. innocent eyes,
her lovely mouth. her baby face. on which !
a universe of sorrow was soon to leave its !
record of sorrow. | can hear her humming |
snatches of mountain songs and jodeis; |
can recall the joyousneSS. the sweetness of
her personality. which make her. althoug h |
a child of dream. n creature of a fancy. |
the one woman whom might have learned |
to love had been-the other principal in |
this story.
To live so high above the rushing, wicked |
world below-S0 near to the workshop of |
GOd-and not 10 love. We're impossible. |
This pure, gentle girl. loved with all the /
fervor and passion of her sorrOwleSs inno- |
cence. Scarce more than boy it was 10 |
whom she had given the jewel of her heart. |
Pierre was shepherd. and tended his |
tiocks on the mountain-a hardy. vigorous |
xuifb ,ransl.A h.larf anl tho /
frame of an Apollo. His soul had been |
enkindled by one grea. gift-musc. lie
had the fire and genus of a master. He |
was the marvel of the mountain. His fine |
eve his erect head his frank face. showed 1
what music had done for hint had made /
a nobleman of him. He played the pipe /,
organ at the little church, the organ which |
had been the gift of dying burgomaSter a |
quarter of a century ago. He played it As |
il was never played by any other and the |
great pipes on Sabbath preached more |
powerful sermon than did the little sur
pliced priest. with his drOwSy Latin and |
platitudes.
Ii was the old story over again. She was |
the child Of a dignitary, Pierre poor shep- |
herd. The girls father, as girls fathers |
will. had ''other views for her. Her |
mother slept the sweet. eternal slumber in ,
the shadow of the spire. Pierre was per
haps below her station in life, Vet she loved |
him, as girls will-loved him for his soul |
and the story of his soul as he told il in the |
rich harmonieS that were born beneath his |
fingers. She thought that she sinned in |
loving Pierre against her fathers orders. |
but loved on and sighed at her sin-aS girls |
VIII. She was forbidden even 10 |
see him, and yet she often
nestled in his arms and /
lay her soft cheek against his sun-burnt one |
as girls will.
Perhaps my sketch is conventional in |
certain details. but then my dream was. /
Ordinary people live ordinary lives. but |
they often die remarkable deaths. A !
stranger from distant land strayed into the |
church one Sabbath and heard Pierre play. |
He was from the world outside-the world |
that was nearing its twentieth century. He I
heard Pierre play and bowed doTn before
the mighty possibilities of the man. He |
knew he was listening to master. He /.
knew that study and training would make |
the organist revelation to the musical |
world. He wept and laughed at his weak !
ness and had All interview with Pierre after
the service. The stranger was rich and
knew money in its true value-itS pur-
chasing power. 1t took but an hour to ar
range matters. At the end of that time il
was settled that Pierre was to go to the uni
versity at Munich to study under master.
In that hour his soul was consecrated and
baptised 10 the priesthood in the mighty
creed and religion of music. He saw that
il wonld make Marie a possibility instead of
a chimera TO him.
will not intrude upon the sacredness of
that parting. 1t was at night when they
saw each other for the last-the very last
time Their parting was the cold simplici-
ty of agony and wrung hearts. He held